Rabanus Maurus
Medieval · AD 800–1500 · 279 passages across 5 books
Commentary
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Nation shall rise against nation, shows the disquietude of men's minds; pestilences, the affliction of their bodies; famines, the barrenness of the soil; earthquakes in dicers places, wrath from heaven above.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
Marriage and meats in themselves are not here condemned, as the error of Marcion and Manichæus teaches; for in the one the continuation of the species, in the other that of life, depends; but what is reproved is an unrestrained use of things lawful.
Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Not that they only, but that they before others, shall be rewarded as well for their own lives as for their superintendence of the flock.
Typically, we may understand his beating his fellow servants, of offending the consciences of the weak by word, or by evil example.
Or, appoints him his portion with the hypocrites, that is, a twofold share of punishment, that of fire and frost; to the fire belongs the weeping, to the frost the gnashing of teethk.
For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
After the parables concerning the end of the world the Lord proceeds to describe the manner of the judgment to come. Or, they are called blessed, to whom an eternal blessing is due for their good deserts. He calls it the kingdom of His Father, ascribing the dominion of the kingdom to Him by whom Himself the King was begotten. For by His royal power, with which He shall be exalted alone in that day, He shall pronounce the sentence of judgment, Then shall the King say. Mystically, He who with the bread of the word and the drink of wisdom refreshes the soul hungering and thirsting after righteousness, or admits into the home of our mother the Church him who is wandering in heresy or sin, or who strengthens the weak in faith, such an one discharges the obligations of true love. Lord, when sate we thee &c. This they say not because they distrust the Lord's words, but they are in amaze at so great exaltation, and at the greatness of their own glory; or because the good which they have done will seem to them to be so small according to that of the Apostle, For the sufferings of this pres…
Or, they are called blessed, to whom an eternal blessing is due for their good deserts. He calls it the kingdom of His Father, ascribing the dominion of the kingdom to Him by whom Himself the King was begotten. For by His royal power, with which He shall be exalted alone in that day, He shall pronounce the sentence of judgment, Then shall the King say.
Mystically, He who with the bread of the word and the drink of wisdom refreshes the soul hungering and thirsting after righteousness, or admits into the home of our mother the Church him who is wandering in heresy or sin, or who strengthens the weak in faith, such an one discharges the obligations of true love.
Lord, when sate we thee &c. This they say not because they distrust the Lord's words, but they are in amaze at so great exaltation, and at the greatness of their own glory; or because the good which they have done will seem to them to be so small according to that of the Apostle, For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in us. (Rom. 8:18.)
And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples,
Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
From the Greek πίστις, faith, whence 'pisticus,' faithful. For this ointment was pure, unadulterated.
That is, To whatsoever place throughout the whole world the Church shall be propagated, there this also that she hath done shall be told. That also that is added signifies, that as Judas by his reproof of her has earned evil character of treachery, so has she also earned the glory of pious devotedness.
Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests,
Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the passover?
Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
What Matthew calls 'paropsis,' Mark calls 'catinus.' The 'paropsis' is a square dish for meat, 'catinus,' an earthen vessel for containing fluids; this then might be a square earthen vessel.
This might have been so said by Judas, and answered by the Lord as not to be overheard by the rest.
And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Peter understood the Lord to have foretold that he should deny Him under terror of death, and therefore he declares that though death were imminent, nothing could shake him from his faith; and the other Apostles in like manner in the warmth of their zeal, valued not the infliction of death, but human presumption is vain without Divine aid.
Peter said unto him, Though I should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee. Likewise also said all the disciples.
Peter understood the Lord to have foretold that he should deny Him under terror of death, and therefore he declares that though death were imminent, nothing could shake him from his faith; and the other Apostles in like manner in the warmth of their zeal, valued not the infliction of death, but human presumptionis vain without Divine aid.
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder.
When the Lord prayed in the mountain, He taught us to make supplication for heavenly things; when He prays in the garden, He teaches us to study humility in our prayer. And beautifully, as He draws near His Passion, does He pray in the 'valley of fatness,' showing that through the valley of humility, and the richness of charity, He took upon Him death for our sakes. The practical instruction which we may also learn from this is, that we should not suffer our heart to dry up from the richness of charity.
Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me.
When the Lord prayed in the mountain, He taught us to make supplication for heavenly things; when He prays in the garden, He teaches us to study humility in our prayer. And beautifully, as He draws near His Passion, does He pray in the ‘valley of fatness’ showing that through the valley of humility, and the richness of charity, He took upon Him death for our sakes. The practical instruction which we may also learn from this is, that we should not suffer our heart to dry up from the richness of charity.